INFORMATION ABOUT THIS AREA

A land of big skies, wide horizons, forest and marsh, wild beaches and fen and river. A land of character and tradition and a spirit that has taken its time over embracing the modern world.

The soft coastline of sand cliffs, saltings and strand is constantly under siege by the North Sea. Among its victims is the ‘lost city’ of Dunwich. Nowadays, a tiny hamlet is all that remains of the former seat of the kings of East Anglia. Legend has it that, on a still night, the city’s church bells can be heard tolling from beneath the waves. Not far down the coast, at Aldeburgh, erosion has resulted in the town’s Tudor Moot Hall, once well inland, now sitting just off the promenade. The nearby Snape Maltings is home to the world renowned Aldeburgh Music Festival.

The wool trade brought incredible wealth to this part of the world with Lavenham at its centre. This gem of timber-framed houses – 300 of them are listed – has been described as the most perfect of all English small towns. Bury St Edmunds and Bildeston, the Guildhall, at Hadleigh, and the Old Moot Hall, at Sudbury are also a legacy of those days.

Let’s go up the River Stour into the Dedham Vale…Constable Country. The stunning countryside and skies inspired John Constable to paint masterpieces such as Willy Lott’s Cottage, Flatford Mill and The Haywain.

((In 1696, a young minister arrived in Maldon and soon attracted huge congreations with his energy and passion. He was Joseph Billio and his name passed into the language…to do something ‘like billio’.))

In Epping Forest you can join the ghosts of the kings and queens of England in one of their favourite hunting grounds. Now tiny compared with centuries past, there are 6,000 acres of woodland and lakes and Henry VIII’s hunting lodge still stands.

While we are in Essex we must visit Colchester – the oldest recorded town in Britain. It became the Romans’ first permanent colony and its fascinating history includes being sacked by Queen Boadicea and being besieged by Cromwell’s troops during the Civil War. The stories are told in the town’s award-winning Castle Museum housed in a Norman keep.

One of the county’s stately homes was the largest house in England when it was built, in 1614. Audley End has since been halved in size but is still a magnificent Jacobean mansion with its parkland crafted by Capability Brown.

All aboard a punt and absorb the architectural gems that are the colleges of the University of Cambridge. The Bridge of Sighs and the Mathematical Bridge span the Cam. Henry VI founded King’s College in 1441. He wanted the chapel, with its inspirational fan-vaulted ceiling and Rubens altarpiece, to dominate the city. Explore the university and visit the Fitzwilliam Museum, one of Britain’s oldest public museums.

Ely Cathedral stands huge and proud over the flat Fens. It was the hiding place of Hereward the Wake as the Normans swept across East Anglia.

Northeast to Norwich and its perfectly preserved medieval streets dominated by the cathedral, founded in 1086. Its thin spire was added to the tower in the 15th century, making it the second tallest in England after Salisbury.

To a wonderland of reed fringed waterways and lakes, woodland and fen – The Broads. It is still a place of mystery and enchantment. Joined by six rivers, the broads are medieval peat diggings which flooded when the water level rose in the 13th century.

The wilder stretches of the region’s country and coast are dotted with nature reserves and bird sanctuaries. Every habitat is available to the wildlife enthusiast from windswept shingle banks and salt marsh to woods and meadows.

The villages and small towns of the north Norfolk coast sit back from the worst of the North Sea winter behind sand dunes and mud flats. Their flint-built homes are a stark contrast to the pink-washed cottages of Suffolk and reflect the character of the rugged, hardy folk who fish and farm here. Don’t forget that Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was born and brought up in Burnham Thorpe…if you call being packed off to sea at 12 years old being brought up! Visit his father’s parsonage and church.

((The Rowley Mile, at Newmarket, the headquarters of English horseracing, is 2½ miles long and is the longest and widest horseracing straight in the world.))

After admiring the house and gardens at Sandringham House – the Queen’s Christmas residence – we are off to King’s Lynn. Its name was changed from Bishop’s Lynn in the Reformation and in the Middle Ages was one of England’s most prosperous ports.

Across the flat, fertile peat of The Fens to the rolling chalk uplands of the Lincolnshire Wolds, which hide quiet wooded valleys and dreaming villages. Somersby, at the southern end of the wolds, is the birthplace of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who wrote lovingly of this part of the world.

The triple towers of Lincoln Cathedral are visible for miles. It is a fascinating mix of Norman and Gothic styles. Look for the gargoyle of an imp sent by Satan to disrupt the cathedral, who was turned to stone by an angel. Then explore Lincoln’s castle, built just two years after the Norman conquest of 1066.

Enjoy an Elizabethan extravaganza at Burghley House, home to the world famous horse trials. Climb Hell Staircase into Heaven Room and marvel at the beautiful and the bizarre in this magnificent building.

All in all a fascinating part of the world. One that has matured from a violent past into one of dramatic contrasts and subtle sophistication. Be prepared to stay here longer than you planned.